Autumn & Winter Lawn Care

A quick, easy guide to Autumn lawn treatments that should be considered for maintaining good grass and improving flagging lawns.

MOSSKILL

Autumn is a good time to apply a high iron fertiliser or moss killer. Look for iron (Fe) content above 6% or it will simply green up the grass with little or no control of moss. The moss will turn black very quickly – rake out after a few days or use a scarifier machine, for larger areas, which are easy to rent for the day. Dispose of the thatch & moss in a compost bin, separately to normal garden waste.

Clay or heavy soils will eventually compact to cause poor grass growing conditions – effectively suffocating the roots of air and water. Aerate with a fork or preferably a hollow tine aeration machine to remove plugs of earth and provide pathways for the roots to receive air & nutrients. Spiking is also good but avoided in heavy clay soil. Backfill holes with good quality top dressing mix: 50:50 sports sand: topsoil.

TIRED LAWN

Overseeding a patchy lawn is best done now rather than waiting for spring. Bare soil left after thick moss has been removed will quickly sprout new weeds – spread quality grass seed and take advantage of warmish temperatures and natural rainfall. In poor soils, or for sunken patches – mix the grass seed at 30-50g per sq. metre with top soil (NOT compost), rake in and compress lightly with the back of the rake or a wooden board to ensure good contact between seed & soil.

Lawns need regular feeding. Despite cooler temperatures, grass will continue to grow slowly in all but the harshest weather. A weak lawn, with no Autumn lawn feed, will emerge from five winter months looking poor & starved. It’s important to use a low Nitrogen Autumn lawn fertiliser with high Potassium levels and a little bit of iron for green-up. A long lasting/ slow release fertiliser will ‘drip’ feed nutrients to the grass preventing a sudden flush of straggly, weak growth and you could do more harm than good. Remember to wash out the spreader after every use. Liquid spray options for Autumn grass feed are also available.